The present invention relates to the field of teaching devices, and more particularly those which are suited to teaching the rounding and sequence of numbers.
Currently, in the marketplace, there are available a wide variety of device having numbers imprinted upon their surfaces for the purpose of teaching young learners place value, rounding and naming numbers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,476,580 issued to J Bergman discloses the use of an educational device with four wheels plus a plus sign and an equal sign for the purpose of teaching equations to children.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,945,303 issued to R. Parkhurst discloses a device having five elongate wheels with a plurality of columns of numbers printed thereupon and a housing with a multiplication sign and an equals sign for the purpose of teaching multiplication to children.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,110 issued to M. Morrisey teaches the use of a device for assisting the user in converting numbers from one base numeration system to another wherein the device has numbers imprinted upon elongate wheels in exponential form.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,832 discloses the use of a novel educational toy which is provided with a suspension rod mounted between two handle elements wherein the suspension rod is capable of supporting a plurality of disk elements, each having numbers and/or letters imprinted on the surface of the disks for the purpose of teaching sentence structure or equation structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,998 issued to L. Silas teaches the use of a hand held sign having parts comprised of flat boards having numbers printed on the surface for the purpose of teaching numeric value and decimal values. However, no rotating wheels are used in this teaching device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,230 issued to S. Jones teaches the use of a plurality of wheels, each wheel having a sequence of 12 numbers printed on each wheel, or a mathematic function printed on the wheel, such as =, +, xc3x97 or ÷, for the purposes of teaching arithmetic equations to children.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,682 issued to R. Hildebrant, discloses the use of a device to teach counting to young children which has four adjacent stacks of nine blocks which are slidably mounted on respective rods held in a frame, with each of the nine blocks further having one face of each block in the stock imprinted in order with a cardinal number while the other stocks are marked with one, two and three zeros to the left of the cardinal number appearing thereupon.
Thus, nowhere in the prior is seen a simplified device for the teaching of rounding and numeric valuation having a series of numeric wheels each containing a series of numbers from 0 to 9 imprinted on the face of each wheel, and further having a decimal indicating means located between two adjacent wheels wherein a child may easily envision how numbers are named, constructed and how to properly round a number up or down.
The present invention consists of a numerical rounding or teaching device which is provided with six or more spinning wheels mounted within a housing or upon an axle which communicates with a stand to support the entire device upon a flat surface. Positioned between the third and fourth wheel from the left is provided a stick with a colored tip, preferably red or orange, which juts forth from the axle and which represents the decimal point. Each wheel is approximately four inches in diameter or height and is labeled sequentially with digits 0-9, spaced evenly apart. The wheel/axle assembly set in a support device consisting of a plywood base with three dowel rods having cradles at each of their upper ends which communicates with the axle. In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, each wheel has differently colored numbers printed on the surface of each wheel. For example, the hundreds wheel may have a white background with blue numbers. The tens wheel may have a white background with pink numbers and the ones wheel may be provided with a white background with red numbers. To the right of this wheel is the decimal point, as described above. The following wheel is the tenths wheel with the reverse coloring scheme of a pink background with white numbers. Next, the hundredths wheel has a blue background with white numbers and finally, the thousandths wheel is provided with an orange background with white numbers. Of course, the device may be provided with more or fewer numbers to the left or right of the decimal point, as desired by the teacher using the device.
The entire device may be constructed of wood, for an improved appearance, or it may even be economially constructed from hard plastic or other polymer. It may even be constructed entirely from cardboard and paper composite products for a very inexpension version of the device.
The decimal point tip of the stick indicator may be colored red, pink or orange or another bright color for easy visual identification by the young student. A wide variety of colors may be used to represent the numbers on the device, as well as the background for the numbers, as long as there is sufficient disparity in coloration between the background and the numbers printed thereupon. The wheel may be either be completely round and smooth in appearance, or it may be segmented into 10 flat surfaces to accommodate the digits 0 through 9.
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, the wheels may be secured to a rod which is suspended within a housing made from either cardboard, plastic or even wood, which allows for easy storage and portability of the device.
In such a manner the present invention may be used in arithmetic instruction to acquaint young learners with value, rounding and naming numbers. The juxtaposition of number coloring and background coloring may assist some learners in reinforcing number place value. The use of a physically manipulative device may be very helpful in assisting learners that respond well to abstract concepts by use of physical movements.
Thus, it is one primary object of the present invention to provide a numerical rounding or teaching device which is provided with six or more spinning wheels having imprinted upon each wheel""s surface the digits 0 through 9 for the purpose of allowing young student to easily spin each wheel to learn number naming, place value and rounding by spinning the wheels.
It is yet an additional primary object of the present invention to provide a numerical rounding or teaching device with a plurality of spinning wheels with a decimal stick having a brightly colored tip positioned between one of the wheels wherein a young learner can spin the wheels and learn naming, place value and rounding of numbers containing decimal values.
It is yet a further primary object of the present invention to provide a numerical rounding or teaching device having a plurality of spinning wheels with the digits 0 through 9 imprinted upon each wheel wherein the color of the digit is in stark contrast to the background and all of the backgrounds of the numbers to the left of the decimal point are of a color which is opposite that of the backgrounds of the numbers to the right of the decimal point.
It is still an additional primary object of the present invention to provide a numeric rounding or teaching device having a plurality of spinning wheels with the digits 0 through 9 imprinted upon each wheel wherein the wheels are approximately 4xe2x80x3 in height or diameter for easy manipulation by young learners.
Yet a further primary object of the present invention is to provide a numeric rounding or teaching device having a plurality of spinning wheels with the digits 0 through 9 imprinted upon each wheel where the wheels are removably retained upon an axle and the axle is supported by three dowel rods each having upper support cradles communicating with the axle, and a lower end which is secured in a plywood base.
Still an additional primary object of the present invention is to provide a numeric rounding or teaching device having a plurality of spinning wheels with the digits 0 through 9 imprinted upon each wheel whereby the wheels, dowel rods and lower support base may be made from plastic or another polymer for cost effective manufacture and construction.
And yet a further primary object of the present invention is to provide a numeric rounding or teaching device having a plurality of spinning wheels with the digits 0 through 9 imprinted upon each wheel whereby the wheels are supported on an axle and the axle is mounted within a housing for easy use and storage of the device.